Saudi radar award to Raytheon

The contract from Saudi’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is a significant award and will enable the extension of radar surveillance for air traffic control throughout the Kingdom.  It will deliver both a substantial enhancement of flight safety for the rapidly growing domestic airline sector and also improve the efficiency of the Saudi Arabia’s air traffic management system.

The programme provides for the supply of radar systems, together with their supporting infrastructure, for en route services as well as for radar approach control at the Kingdom’s major international airports. Additionally Raytheon will establish within Saudi Arabia a regional maintenance facility that will support not only systems being supplied to GACA, but also a significant number of systems already deployed in the region for other Air Navigation Service Providers.

Richard Claydon, Raytheon’s head of air traffic management systems, said: “An award of this magnitude from such an important customer as the GACA reinforces Raytheon’s position as foremost surveillance provider. It also extends Raytheon’s state-of-the-art surveillance in this important regional market, which is distinguished by continuing growth in contrast to an economic downturn elsewhere”

Engineer Mohammed Ahmed Al-Salmi, GACA Vice President Air Navigation Services, said: “We are pleased to be working with Raytheon Systems Limited on this very important project and look forward to the establishment of a long and enduring partnership.”